Just ordered a Lyman GPR Kit

Never shot flint before, have wanted to for years, Never built my own gun before, wanted to for years. This ought to be fun :thumbsup:

Yes! Although there is no evidence of the J&S Hawken shop ever making a flintlock half-stock plains rifle, and half-stock flintlock rifles were almost unheard of in general (minus the M1803 Harpers Ferry rifle and some English guns), there should have been because the Lyman is a great shooter in flintlock. Congrats!

you may want to consider the purchase of The Gunsmith of Grenville County, by Peter Alexander. While this book covers a bunch of stuff you don't really need in building a kit of this type, it will provide great insight as regards why you're doing certain steps, and if you read it through before starting the build (i recommend doing this at least twice), you will get a better feel for how everything it supposed to work and why things work the way they do.

it's something of a splurge, but if you like this build, you'll do several more. Here's a link: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/321/1/BOOK-GGC

$42 plus the ever- popular shipping and handling ... some very nice color photos, and the drawings are all first rate.

Good luck with your build!

:wink:

I believe you will get a lot of enjoyment from building this kit. I will offer three pieces of advice: 1. Although these kits are not difficult to assemble and finish, take your time and enjoy the experience. 2. There is a bit of a learning curve with most people learning to shoot flintlocks(there sure was with me) but do not become discouraged. Dry fire exercises can be extremely helpful in this area. 3. Stay away from manufactured flints and use only natural flint that has been knapped.

GPR can be good shooter, trigger can be replaced with R.E. Davis Deerslayer, if needed IIRC. Agree with book mentioned above, well worth it. The why's as important as the how's. TOW/Tom Fuller flints. I use same powder in pan as main charge (lazy) FFg for .54 cal and FFFg for .50 cal. You can whittle a wooden "flint" for dry fire practice. My GPR .54 likes it's flint "bevel down" for a little more contact with the frizzen. The GPR can take some time break in the barrel for best accuracy. Search for "Dutch Shultz" accuracy improvement info if you like. It is possible to have too much powder in the pan so try different amts if seems like long wait for the bigger boom, should be very quick. I almost always prick the touch hole or load with feather in it (another big discussion/argument point that probably doesn't matter other than personal preference or habit). Anyway my 2-10 cents worth.. Have fun with it.

P.S. Do not ask about leather vs lead flint wraps.. (you can search.. but don't ask.. LOL)

FPDoc said:

P.S. Do not ask about leather vs lead flint wraps.. (you can search.. but don't ask.. LOL)

Click to expand...

Hmmm, sounds like a patch grease question...... :haha: :rotf:

If there is a wait between Flash and Boom it's because you have piled the powder in the flash pan in front of the touch hole.
It's the flash itself shooting down the touch hole that ignites the mainn charge..

I would also suggest 2Æ’Æ’ powder for every caliber from .45 and up. \your shoulder will appreciate it.
Dutch Schoultz

all stuff i forgot / overlooked ... 'cut' agate flints are an anathema ... they should be banned by statute (why not - -everything else is on some list or another, but that's a tirade for another day) ...

once you get the stock where you think it looks good, take some more wood off of it.

the 'trick' (if you want to call it that) of shooting a flintlock accurately is follow through ... i practice by pinning a 3x5 card with a small dot on the wall and aim at it, and with the cock (hammer) in the fired position, i set the rear trigger and take up a good sight picture and then fire using the front trigger. you know you've tripped the sear because the trigger will click. (i do this with the 'hammer down' to save wear on the lock). when i hear the trigger release, i concentrate on keeping the sight picture where it should be for a five count, then i lower the rifle. some folks also lift weights to build up their shoulder girdle, but i don't bother with that. on the other hand, i'm not all that great a shot ... hmmm - cause&effect? go figure ...

you can get an R.E.Davis Deerslayer for your new rifle. they cost about $50, and i personally think it's money well spent, but then again, i'm known as a notorious trigger snob. you should try the Lyman trigger, then save up your hard earned, God- entrusted, overtaxed dollars and splurge - i suspect tat you'll appreciate the difference.

Flint v. lead wraps ... a highly contentious issue, to be diplomatic. to make a lead wrap, squish a roundball in a vise, then fold edges over (or cut them away), and smoosh this over your flint. Put the whole contraption in the cock, tighten down the cock screw and dry fire the lock two or three times. Then re- tighten the cock screw and you should be all set. Some folks soak their leather wraps, and some who are in the don't- soak- the- leather camp. the best advice i can give on this score is to try out a few of the various methods and go with what works best for this particular rifle. what makes this game interesting is that you can have two consecutively serial numbered rifles, and they will behave in an entirely different manner.

Dutch Schoultz wrote a method some years ago. If you follow his instructions, your groups will shrink. if you contact him and describe your problems, he will answer you. His method is guaranteed, and, if your groups don't shrink, he'll send youy back your hard earned, God- entrusted, overtaxed dollars. (try getting that kind of guarantee from a "Fortune 500" company and see how far you can go...) Here's a link to Dutch's site: http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/
i think his method costs about twenty bucks ... it's the best non- shooting accessory you can get.

As regards patch lube, Dutch has a recommendation. I use his lube: it works for me. There are a zillion recipes out there - i'd use Dutch's method. By the way, be sure that you use a 'natural' fiber material for your patches. I am not, let's be clear, one of those hippie dippie types that insists on "all natural" this or that - those folks don't really care about my health (although they will claim that scientifically valid, peer reviewed studies showing no health benefit from "organic" or "all natural" food are really just propaganda on the part of 'big pharma) ... for them it's all about advancing their political agenda ... i point you away from synthetic cloth of any kind because it will melt when you fire it, and leave your bore a dreadful mess. Stay with all cotton or pure linen. Don't ask me how i know
:cursing: :redface: :cursing: :redface:

as far as priming, i use whatever the main charge gets: you didn't mention the caliber of this rifle, so i assume that it's a .50. I would start with FFFg, but it may like FFg - you will have to try the different grades and find out for yourself. i put about eight to ten grains into the pan and leave it level. If you bank the powder in the pan so it covers the touch hole, this will slow down the ignition sequence, so i would caution you against this practice. again, try a few different styles and see which way the prime likes to go in this particular rifle.

as far as picking the touch hole, again i would recommend that you try out several different methods and see which one works best in your gun.

avoid the temptation to use as much powder as is safe: i have seen folks load to the maximum recommended charge, and then complain that their accuracy is bad, so they add more. Don't go like that! It's unsafe, and it's unnecessary. Dutch covers this in his method.

As regards the finish on your rifle, this is a personal choice, but i like Permalyn or TruOil. Both of these finishes are very water resistant (i know of nothing other than cyanoacrylate that is actually waterproof, and you don't want to go with an a/c finish on your rifle. If the final coat is too shiny, you can knock it back a bit with a scuffy or Scotchbrite product. I would go with a rust blue finish on the metal - historically accurate and pretty easy to do.

again, good luck with your build, and make good smoke!

Dutch, sorry about misspelling your name..no excuse.

Thanks much. Good information here. I'm not new to Black Powder so I understand part of this, I use Dutch's moose snot as a lube in my percussion KLR and don't see any reason to change that. I just know that is often the point of more discussion than oil threads on motorcycle forums. I'm really looking forward to this build and to playing with the nuances of the flint. Should be lots of fun

Thanks all!

Back in 2001 or so, I built my GRP kit and just found my old posts from the old MLML. Probably not much help, but it will be interesting to see what has changed in 15 years.

Jim not in NC.


Building a Lyman’s Great Plains Rifle Kit - Part 1

Let me begin with a disclaimer ”“ I am NOT an expert at this. This is my first every build of a rifle. I am posting my learnings so that other first timers can see what went right and wrong and we can all laugh a bit.

The first undertaking in this project is the inletting of the stock for the lock, barrel, tang and other iron pieces. I quickly learned that this was going to require a lot of patience. Fortunately I have a good friend whose hobby is woodworking and he loaned me the necessary carving tools. I made great use out of the following: An Exacto knife, a ¼” straight wood chisel, a ¼” chisel with a 30 degree slant and my trusty Dremel tool with a carbide abrasive cylinder about ¼” in diameter.

Technically the first step in the directions was to draw file the barrel, but my barrel came from the factory nicely polished and fitted to the tang. Maybe Lyman got some complaints and decided to do that job in the factory. So off to work fitting the lock. I found that I did not have to remove much material to fit the look and did most of the work with 120 grit sandpaper. I had only a couple of areas where the ¼” chisel was used to deepen the overall cavity for clearance. In all I think this only took about 1 hour.

Next came the tang and barrel inletting. Here the Dremel tool was used to remove larger amounts of material quickly, although I was very careful to get the feel of the tool and check the depth often so as to not over do the cutting. I finished up using the ¼” chisel and sandpaper to smooth-out the tool marks. After installing the tang, I blacked the underside of the barrel using candle soot (worked pretty good) and went to work using the Dremel tool. Once I got close to being done, I switch to the chisel only and did my final cutting. This gave a really nice finish and eventually I got quite good at using the chisel. Those of you who are good with these types of tools would probably do well to not use a Dremel tool. Once I got the fit I wanted including a nice fit to the lock plate, I used sandpaper to smooth out the area I worked.

The trigger came factory installed so I just did a bit of sanding, as no other work was needed to get a good fit.

Now to the trigger guard - my only problem. The guard is a cast (iron) item, which appears to have a slight warp in it. If I placed the machined mounting surfaces on a flat plate, the whole thing tilted. I thought a long time about what to do. Should I return it or try to not worry about it. When I put it in place, it didn’t look funny, so I figured that a minor imperfection like this would be OK and give the gun a bit of uniqueness that only I would probably see. Anyway, I had to inlet a bit deeper to get the trigger guard to sit in the cavity nicely.

The butt plate and nose cap are all factory fitted and I don’t seem to have anything to do for them, so on to sanding and finishing the stock. I’ll write part 2 of this saga when that is complete. Part 3 will be metal finishing which is my biggest worry to date. Any advice on how much I should polish the trigger guard and nose cap . . . or should I just make sure they are free of burrs and leave the finish as cast? More to come.

Just for fun ”“ I have spend about 6 actual working hours on the inletting, and many more pondering how to do some things.

Jim
In S. E. Michigan

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Building a Lyman’s Great Plains Rifle Kit - Part 2

Let me begin with a disclaimer ”“ I am NOT an expert at this. This is my first ever build of a rifle. I am posting my learnings so that other first timers can see what went right and wrong and we can all laugh a bit.

I got started finishing the stock this week. First step was sanding and sanding and sanding. I began by marking the end of the butt around the butt plate with a black water soluble marker. This way I could clearly see how far to go. I left the butt plate on for most of the work, too. I had to remove a lot of wood around the back of the stock to get rid of the rough tool marks and get a nice flush fit with the butt plate. I started with 80 grit until I got close. Then switched to 120 grit. I’ll go back with finer grits later. I got a flexible sanding pad to use as a backer for the paper. It allowed me to work the contours without having uneven pressure. I used a solid sanding block were ever there was a flat surface or contour line to maintain.

After putting in a couple of hours this way, I changed my strategy a bit. I got a small ½ inch rasp with a fairly fine tooth pattern. I used it to take off larger amounts of material around the butt plate as the 80 grit wasn’t getting me there fast enough. I then reverted back to the 80 grit plan after the use of the rasp.

Following the 120 grit work I went to 220 grit. Then a good wet cleaning followed by steaming to raise the grain and whiskers. I learned about that off the FAQ on MLML. This worked great and the stock felt very smooth after another sanding with 220 grit. I gave it another steam treatment and sanded with 400 grit for a final smoothing. Then a final wash.

Finishing has been with Formby’s Tung Oil following the advice of my woodworking buddy. It looks great! I gave it 3 coats, then a wet sanding with 600 grit wet sandpaper (automotive body work type), then five more coats of tung oil to get the luster I wanted. Tough part was getting the oil worked into all the nooks and crannies around the lock and the ramrod hole. I used long cotton swaps and finally just poured some oil into the ramrod hole.

I’ll take some pictures and post them when the whole project is finished. Now on to metal finishing. I have decided to go with browning, but I have some polishing to do on the trigger guard and other parts first. I added up my time log yesterday and it was 5 hours sanding and finishing. Added to my inletting time I have 11 hours into the kit. I am taking my time with this, putting in 15 minutes here and there as I work around the other facets of life, no rush, we got another 3 inches of snow last night and the shooting range is buried.

Jim
In lovely Michigan


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Building a Lyman’s Great Plains Rifle Kit - Part 3

Let me begin with a disclaimer ”“ I am NOT an expert at this. This is my first ever build of a rifle. I am posting my learnings so that other first timers can see what went right and wrong and we can all laugh a bit.

With my stock completely finished off some time ago, I was in a waiting period before final metal finishing and browning. I had trouble obtaining some Laurel Mountain Forge Browning solution, due to it being on back-order.

I did manage to spend some time polishing the various steel bits. I used some good clothe backed silicon-carbide wet/dry sand paper like the kind used to finish automotive body work. As I said before, the barrel really didn’t need much more than a bit of polish with this paper. The trigger guard and butt plate took quite a bit of elbow grease to get smooth and shiny. I let the nose pieces remain as cast, I liked that look. Everything was set-aside for a few weeks while I waited for a weekend, which wasn’t too busy with other activities and for the browning solution to show up.

The browning process took place over a weekend. I scrubbed all the metal parts to remove oil and dirt on a Friday night and set everything up. I had rubber gloves to protect my hands from the browning solution and keep my skin oil off of the metal. A few cotton swabs for hard to reach places and necessary rags. (A big thanks here to Coondog on MLML, who posted his recent experiences with this particular browning solution . . . it gave me a lot of courage.) Got up early Saturday and applied the first coat. Three hours later was coat number 2. Then the scaling process, per the Laurel Mountain Forge instructions. Everything looks like it is ruined at this point . . . you begin to think “why did I do this” . . . but have faith, it will turn out. I kept up the three-hour schedule until some time late Saturday, then started again early Sunday before Church. Sunday night around 10:00 PM I was finished. I washed the metal down with baking soda to stop the rusting and oiled the parts. Wow, it looks great!

My only disappointment, the toe plate, which is stamped steel, didn’t take the browning very well. I think it is a different type of steel or has some residual stresses from the stamping process, maybe. It has some color, but not that nice deep brown everything else got. I may have to revisit this later.

Final assembly went well, the gun looks great, even my wife thinks so. Now I just need a bit of warmer weather to try it out.

Jim, from S. E. Michigan

Thanks, that's helpful

Sky Pilot. or Reverend.
My Moose Milk Recipe which I got from a very rifleman was not intended as a patch lube but as a cleaning solution used as a dampening oisture for the between shot wipe and other cleaning processes. BUT if it's working for you as a patch lubricant , that's OK too.

Whatever works to give you reasonably tight groups is the right thing to use.
Dutch Schoultz

Jim,

You give good advice.

I'd avoid the Dremel, however. You must have much better technique with the thing than I, because the kindest thing i can say about Dremel is that it can get you into trouble much faster than it can get you out of trouble.

please don't ask how i know ... :redface: :redface: :redface: :cursing: :redface: :redface:

p.s. having and keeping the chisels super sharp is of the utmost importance ... getting bloodstains out of fine woodwork is very difficult... again, please don't ask me how i know...

MSW said:

Jim,

You give good advice.

I'd avoid the Dremel, however. You must have much better technique with the thing than I, because the kindest thing i can say about Dremel is that it can get you into trouble much faster than it can get you out of trouble.

please don't ask how i know ... :redface: :redface: :redface: :cursing: :redface: :redface:

p.s. having and keeping the chisels super sharp is of the utmost importance ... getting bloodstains out of fine woodwork is very difficult... again, please don't ask me how i know...

Click to expand...

Been there-Done that on both instances.....

No beginner should use a dremel tool.

I was a serious duck decoy carver at one time and am an expert with a dremel tool, I may use one very lightly in a few places on my guns but overall even for me it can bind and jump and you have a problem to solve.

Another thing; Round off that ugly flat spot behind the lock panel, nothing makes a gun build look more amateurish than to leave that big flat place on the wrist. There is no such flat place on any historic gun, ever.

I moved this to the Gun Builder's Bench because the "Flintlock Rifle" area is basically for posts about shooting and feeding flintlocks.

Hope everyone understands.

I only used the dremel in the barrel channel and very carefully. You definitely want a light touch on it.

Thinking and patience are your two most important tools.

Jim in NC

Search you-tube .. I recall seeing some videos on GPR Kit assembly..

Duelist1954 has a good video on YouTube about building a GPR kit.